


Love is a Flower that Pierces the Lungs

by ManifestMerlin



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Hanahaki Disease, Kinda, M/M, Mild Gore, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love, its flowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 17:59:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14407470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManifestMerlin/pseuds/ManifestMerlin
Summary: He hadn’t meant to let it get so far, as a leader it was the height of irresponsibility. Another cough raked through Shiro’s body as more and more flowers fell from his mouth, bright blue columbines, if Shiro had ever took to listening to his grandmother’s rambling about what each flower meant then he have some idea of his situation. Having been a rambunctious kid however wasn’t doing Shiro any favors now. Shiro was interrupted by a knocking at his door.“Shiro! You still asleep? Everyone missed you at breakfast.” Lance’s muffled voice came through.Lance sounded so happy, so carefree.He wouldn’t be if he knew he was killing me. Shiro thought with a huff.





	Love is a Flower that Pierces the Lungs

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Gift for Mintea as part of the Voltron Ship Exchange! They didn't specify what they wanted, so I made this! Hope you all like it and as always comments are very appreciated!

He hadn’t meant to let it get so far, as a leader it was the height of irresponsibility. Another cough raked through Shiro’s body as more and more flowers fell from his mouth, bright blue columbines, if Shiro had ever took to listening to his grandmother’s rambling about what each flower meant then he have some idea of his situation. Having been a rambunctious kid however wasn’t doing Shiro any favors now. Shiro was interrupted by a knocking at his door.

“Shiro! You still asleep? Everyone missed you at breakfast.” Lance’s muffled voice came through.

Lance sounded so happy, so carefree.

_ He wouldn’t be if he knew he was killing me. _ Shiro thought with a huff.

“Yeah don’t worry Lance, I’m just getting dressed.” Shiro replied.

Lance’s clear laugh filtered in, “Oh good! We were getting worried about you!”

_ I wish you meant I not we…  _ Shiro thought before he  felt a sudden pain in his chest before he started hacking all over again.

“Shiro!” Lance shouted, “Are you sure you’re okay that doesn’t sound good!” 

“Don’t worry Lance!” Shiro said a bit to forcefully, “I’m fine its just a bit of dus-” Shiro didn’t get to finish his sentence before he was cut off by another coughing fit, this time blood falling down with the flowers.

“Shiro!” Lances panicked, “That’s it I’m coming in!”

_ NO NO NO He can’t see me like this.  _ Shiro went wide eyed with fear.  _ It usually takes a full year to progress this far! How did I get here in only 3 months? _

******Three Months Ago******

Shiro was supervising Lance and Hunk in the kitchen while they tried to bake for an upcoming coalition meeting. The two didn’t really need supervising but Shiro enjoyed watching them work, or if he was being honest, watching one of the two of them work, specifically Lance. Lance was mixing the dough and he had managed to get some flour on his cheek.

“Hey Lance?” Hunk asked, “You got something right-right there.” He said wiping the flour off of Lance’s cheek.

“Oh thanks for that buddy!” Lance said with a light clear laugh.

_ This is what I love about him. _ Shiro thought before immediately feeling a sharp pain in his chest that caused him to start coughing into his flesh hand..

“Hey Shiro you okay?” Lance said with a worried look on his face, “That cough doesn’t sound so good.”

“Y-Yeah I’m fine, i’ll go check with Coran just in case though.” Shiro shakily replied before getting off of his chair and walking towards his room rather than the infirmary, if his suspicions were right then he didn’t want anyone to know. When he was safely in his room he looked down at his gloved hand and saw it covered in yellow dust.

Shiro felt his face drain of color and his stomach filled with dread. 

_ Pollen? No, no no nonono…  _ he thought. But the yellow dust on his hand couldn’t be anything but flower pollen, he was in the first stage of hanahaki disease.

As the weeks went by and Lance and Shiro kept being forced into interaction due to their duties as paladins and Shiro’s condition kept worsening. He started coughing up small petals, then larger ones around the first month in. There was a particular incident when Shiro was training around two months in where the gladiator got a good slice on his arm, however when Shiro started to bleed the blood was thick and sticky and had a slight orange tinge to it. 

_ Is it mixing with sap?  _ Shiro thought.

It only got worse from there as Shiro had to deal both with vines choking his lungs and his blood turning to sludge, all of this meaning Shiro had started to suffer energy drops noticeable by everyone else leading to him being now confined to his room for the first time. It was all worth it though as long as he wasn’t forced into surgery, he thought the galra had taken all his feeling, he wasn’t going to give up the biggest indicator that they had failed. Besides it wasn’t like he could tell Lance, the guy was perfect, hair that looked like it’d be as soft as silk and skin that practically glowed like a star.

_ Showing your lovestruck side a bit too much there with the waxing poetry Shiro.  _ he thought to himself.

But it was true after all, there was no reason for beautiful, kind, thoughtful Lance to want to have anything to do with Shiro, broken, incomplete Shiro.

**You have nothing and now you never will have anything ever again.** The witch’s memory hissed in his mind,  **You’re a part of the Galra Empire now no one else will want you, without us, you are nothing!**

Shiro remembered the words well, it was what she had said right after taking his arm.

“Shiro!” Lance said as he beat down on the door, “Open the door or I’ll do it myself!”

Shiro froze at that, if Lance came in at that moment then he would find out and the blue blossoms would give away the  who pretty easily, so Shiro started trying to shove the flowers underneath his pillow.

“That’s it I’m coming in!” Lance shouted before Shiro heard the telltale swoosh of the door unlocking and sliding out of the way.

*************

As Lance stepped into the room he was almost frozen at the sight, Shiro sat on the floor with a bundle of bloodstained blue flowers in his hands and more blood trailing from his mouth, the blood was slightly orange and moved more like syrup than blood as it fell from his chin.

_ It can’t be, not Shiro, not him.  _ Lance thought even if he couldn’t lie to himself, it was, and it was Shiro. Coughing up flowers, and sap-mixed blood, the telltale signs of hanahaki.

Shiro and Lance stared at each other for a moment before Shiro started coughing and Lance was jolted out of his thinking and rushed over to Shiro’s side. 

“I-I didn’t want you to see me like this-” Shiro said before he was cut off by another round of coughing.

“Who is it?” Lance said as he tried to keep down his panic.

“W-What?” Shiro said before his face somehow became more panicked then it already was.

“Who do you love?” Lance shouted, “We can find them!”

“Lance-”

“Don’t Lance me! We are finding this person, and we will get a declaration of love from them if I have to beat it from their throats.”

“No, the person, Lance it-it’s you.” Shiro said as tears began to fall from his face as Lance suddenly froze, “It’s you Lance, it’s you, the flowers are even fucking blue, It’s YOU OKAY?” Shiro said outright sobbing.

“I love you.” Lance whispered softly.

*************

“I love you.”

There it was, the three words Shiro wanted to hear from the person he wished would say them. It all felt wrong. It was a lie and Shiro knew it, there was no way Lance loved him, they had barely interacted at all, the only reason Shiro loved Lance was because he had been looking for something, anything, that proved to him that he wasn’t the killing machine the galra had tried to make him into, or at least that’s what he told himself.

“Lance, I know you don’t, it won’t work-” Shiro began before being cut off by a cough worse than all the others, but this time it wasn’t flowers that came up, it was a vine.

As Lance shouted in horror for the others to come more and more pieces of vine along with a steady stream of sap -blood free- covered flowers. As Shiro saw the rest of the team coming into the room it was at that moment that he lost consciousness. 

*************

When Shiro woke up he felt himself fall out of the familiar coldness of a healing pod right into the waiting arms of a tall dark haired boy.

“Lance?” Shiro asked quietly.

“It’s me Shiro i’m here.” Lance responded just as softly.

“So then you do-”

“Yup, I might’ve let my hero crush go a bit too far after meeting you for real.” Lance chuckled softly. “I always thought I was out of your league…”

“I’d be a hypocrite if I told you to think more highly of yourself, I thought the same about myself.” Shiro said giving a watery laugh.

“Waterworks already?” Lance teased, “You’ve barely been awake for two minutes!”

“Can you blame me?” Shiro said nuzzling his face into Lance’s neck, “I thought I was going to die in front of the person I love and instead I’m being cradled in their arms.”

“O-Oh!” Lance said as Shiro felt the heat of a blush rise through Lance’s neck, “Well you’d better not let Keith hear you say that! He might get jealous of me remembering this bonding moment!”

“I KNEW YOU REMEMBERED IT YOU ASS!” Keith’s yell could be heard even if no one entered the room.

“So, now that we’re like this…” Shiro began, “I’ve heard Olkarion has a place that serves something like ice cream, wanna check it out with me?”

Lance raised an eyebrow as he looked down at Shiro, “Are you asking me out on a date Takashi Shirogane? Because if so,” Lance said giving a smile, “I readily accept.”

“Lets just not go for any of the flowery flavors okay?” Shiro said earning a chuckle from Lance, and y’know, he felt like that made it worthwhile.

**Author's Note:**

> Only Note to make is that blue columbines represent foolishness, and Shiro is foolish for thinking Lance wouldn't love him so that's why.  
> https://manifestmerlin.tumblr.com my tumblr right here.


End file.
